One of my first ("borrowed") internet accounts was on VM/XA SP around 1991. Yeah you had to hit CTRL-Z to clear your screen, but I was actually amazed at how friendly this machine was (and it would happily spit out pages and pages of helpful documentation), given that it was an "IBM mainframe." It was quite the experience learning to navigate the nascent internet and BITNet of the time on that thing.
I met up with Hans on X.25 just a couple years after the book came out, when he was at Artcom. I found him to be incredibly nice, and he even ran a small BBS and was helping me get a VAX account to explore VMS a bit. I don't recall why, but we eventually lost touch. This year I noticed him on Github doing some hardware-related stuff though.
I remember installing the VRML plugin for Netscape and how it slowed my dual-CPU SPARCStation 20 to a crawl, but it was OMG The Future! and then one day nobody ever mentioned it again.
Given the percentage of Korean GDP for which Samsung accounts, and the political influence they wield, they're effectively a state institution. We can assume they're not for sale, ever.
Most American humans and pets know the distinctive sound of an LLV trolling around the block delivering the mail. EVs are Ninja-like by comparison. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing, but it's gonna be a different world.
As a 45 year old lead developer, this is the answer that I most align with. Not only are job expectations a bit higher than 20 years ago (ie, back then you could just say "I'm still workin on it" but today you generally have to give progress reports at least daily and have your velocity tracked), but at this age, my time can be strictly regimented (exercise, chores, caring for the animals, appointments, helping in the kitchen, doing actual paid work...) from before-sunrise until almost midnight. I'm not quite sure what happened to the days that seemed like I had a whole ocean of time, but even writing this reply is a bit much. Give yourself some grace. Afternoon siestas are a great idea if you can sneak them in.
I'm something of a generalist, but I prefer to do Typescript stuff with node.js and AWS Lambda, as well as React frontend stuff. I can do lots of other things and will even deliver C-Sharp and PHP components, but the thing about contracting is that you can usually end up doing only stuff that you want to do.
My wife spends some time keeping my Linkedin account active, and I spend about 15 minutes a day maintaining a 'pipeline' spreadsheet and replying to inquiries about opportunities. If something gets to the introductory-call stage, I'll try and space them out so that there's no more than one per day. Generally I find that it takes about 30 days from introduction to closing a deal (sometimes longer). At the moment, I have multiple retainers and my plate is full, so I only do the minimum effort necessary to ensure that there's 4-6 opportunities somewhere in the pipeline, regardless of whether they close or not. Obviously if I weren't eating quite as well, I'd probably put at least double the effort into it.
As far as engagement length, my longest engagement is currently 6 months. Generally I don't have an issue with getting promoted into management as an independent contractor, as my loyalty is ultimately understood to be to my own company, and I make it very clear that I do not wish to become a manager. If those terms aren't acceptable, hey, I'm a contractor, everyone's welcome to terminate the relationship with zero hard feelings whatsoever, which is both an advantage in the current economic environment as well as the reason I need to maintain a pipeline of opportunities no matter how well things are going.
After watching several of my friends become managers, directors, and VPs, I got FOMO and finally said yes to the management track about 25 years of software development. After about 3 years of engineering management, I was absolutely miserable, almost not programming at all, and spending 6 or more hours per day making sure I was camera-ready for the next Zoom meeting. Fortunately I had an S-Corporation that lived in a binder on a shelf (and so can you for about $125 and a few mouse clicks), and it came to the rescue. I branded myself as an independent consultant, got super lucky and landed a few retainers, and here I am, making more money and largely sticking to programming at the Tech Lead level. Yeah there's a bit of extra effort that goes into invoicing, running payroll, and paying taxes, but it's nowhere near as bad as management.
I have no dog in this fight (I thought Twitter was a cesspool then, and I know it is now), but before we go much farther in the conversation about collusion between LE and big business, we must remember how Qwest lost an enormous contract (and more, arguably) for refusing to cooperate with the NSA's plan to gobble everyone's data. The fact that this happened at all, creates a chilling effect, a shining example for all to see. In such light, American business that call themselves 'common carriers' all know the score: Cooperate or it would be a shame if something happened to you. Would anyone be shocked that Twitter kept a cordial relationship with the agency that murdered Fred Hampton? Of course not.
Ken Burns retells this story masterfully in "Empire Of The Air" which should be considered mandatory watching for anyone with an interest in this stuff.
Depends on what is meant by 'conspiracy'. If you refer to certain American and British political topics, you're not wrong. Some people whose opinions I formerly valued have been thus subsumed by the vast divisive misinformation machine to which we find ourselves subject in this age. It's not without historical precedent, but it is nonetheless a sign of the times.
I agree with all of this. I round up to the nearest 15-minute increment on hourly gigs, and I stay 'clocked in' except for lunch, cardio, siesta, and other unrelated activity. Even so, 6 hours is a very full day (sometimes even involves a bit of after-dinner work depending on the day), and people billing hourly like this would likely do well to consider that when setting their rate.
Day rates and retainers are much nicer in this regard, and should be used whenever possible.
Interesting that '555-5555' is historically listed as 'IN DISPUTE'. It was well-known in the 1980s and 1990s that if you hit 0 to have an operator dial a call for you (for example to an ANI demo or other target known to use ANI), an ANI Failure would result and the output would be: area code + 555-5555.
I have been in exactly this position. It does end. In the meantime, make sure you're getting fresh air and plenty of sleep. And try not to schedule an interview every day, you need at least one weekday away from it.
"Attractive" is a wee bit subjective here, but I can tell you my career took off after I spent a small fortune on my teeth and upgraded my mic and webcam setup to near-studio-grade. If it's a coincidence, it's the most incredible case of coincidental curve-fitting that I've ever personally witnessed. It by no means guarantees you'll get the job, demonstration of competence still matters, but it sure helps break ties.
Not sure how weird it is, but a lot of people tend to let their job keep their butt in a chair for too long. I suggest going into your company's calendaring system (Google or MSFT or whatever) and carving out 30,45, or even 60 minutes. If you're on Google Calendar, call it 'busy' so anyone nosy enough to look at it will think you're meeting with some high-brass and they don't have permission to see details. As far as what to do with the time, doesn't matter as long as your posterior gets out of the chair. Walk, hug your family, or just enjoy the sounds of the outdoors and get sun on your face. I like to do something to get my heart goin for all that time, but frankly there's no need to be fancy. Your idea about oxygen concentration is worth a shot, remember that recirculated indoor air generally has enough CO2 to impact cerebral performance negatively, so going outside will definitely get you some free O2 in addition to making you a lil bit smarter.
And for the love of Elvis, don't feel guilty or think of it as time theft. This is your health we're talkin about.
We work hard to rapidly capture our market space! (But as a result, sales is allowed to bully engineering, and our technical debt is growing faster than the Internal Revenue Code)
If you decide you really enjoy 65816 development, just a gentle reminder: The Apple IIGS dev community would love to have you and we're seeing new hardware releases at a pace we haven't seen since the 1990s.
iFit unfortunately is not humming along. Amid plummeting home fitness equipment sales (particularly bikes), they postponed their planned IPO, laid off tons of people including engineers in December, and at their current burn rate, they either need to find new capital, slash costs to the bone, or be acquired. The situation there is not as dire as Peloton, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got acquired by end of year.
The main strategic error that both companies made, was to assume a certain level of permanence when home-training equipment sales exploded during the beginning of the COVID era. People are now (rightly or wrongly) returning to gyms and buying less home stuff.
I'd love to see the same company acquire both Peloton and iFit, and hopefully preserve iFit's library of high-production-quality workouts and charismatic trainers and perhaps combine it with Peloton's charged competitive live workouts.
I worked for a fitness company for a few years and it was really nice helping people who wanted to workout and sometimes hearing the stories they'd share about using our platform to change their lives. But that job was the exception, not the rule. I find purpose before and after work, and on payday, when I take care of my family.
I'm probably going too far from the original point since Target was only cited as a hypothetical example, but Target has some of the country's largest and most capable crime labs. I mention this as an example of how large corporate entities can be enthusiastic participants in the police state.
I'd go as far as to say that by 1990 post-Operation Sundevil etc, this was considered common wisdom, and such people with great skill who never got arrested were the rule, not the exception. People pulled off fantastic things, but refused to do silly stuff like join groups or write about their exploits in G-philez, or even use the same alias on two forums (let alone doing anything from their house). You might have met up with them on an Alliance Teleconference or QSD once in awhile, but never at the 2600 meetup at the mall. These people tended to make it well into adulthood and lead rewarding lives, all without ever becoming a pushpin with pieces of yard tied to it on some Secret Service agent's cubicle wall. Of course, it doesn't make you as famous as an Esquire article does. But also, handcuffs hurt.
This is still true today, and of more hunted groups than just hackers.
I use an S55H hanging from a pulley, boxing ring-style, just high enough to be out of the video frame unless I'm trying to show it off, into a Cloudlifter and Scarlett Solo. As a veteran of several remote-first company audio wars, I have gotten many compliments on this rig. All this to say, it's hard to go wrong with a condenser mic and a cloudlifter into a decent audio interface. My camera game (iMac Facetime camera) is however fairly wack.
I've bought a lot of silly ones over the years. When 'enterprises' TLD opened, I couldn't believe that criminal.enterprises wasn't taken yet, so I snagged it. Although I found myself reluctant to actually use it on a website (could be nice for a game though), I did end up redirecting it to a certain ex-president's organization, but only a few hundred people ever noticed.